Oran Vanich Roof Tile yesterday warned that the price of roofing tiles would rise if the government pressed ahead with a plan to discontinue the use of asbestos in the making of any products in the Kingdom.
Moreover, the lifecycle of roof tiles that use other raw materials such as tissue paper, polyamide and other chemicals is only three years in a rainyseason climate such as Thailand's, compared with 70 years for tiling that uses asbestos, said managing director Uran Krealskul.
The company's warning follows the government's proposed policy to ban the use of asbestos in all products, due to National Health Committee concerns about the associated cancer risk.
Other makers such as SCG Group and Mahaphant Group have already changed their production and no longer use asbestos to produce their roofing tiles and others products, leaving only Oran Vanich Roof Tile and one other company to follow suit as regards rooftile manufacturing.
Oran Vanich Roof Tile is a market leader in the roofingtile sector, posting revenue of Bt2.17 billion last year, 8 per cent above the Bt2.07 billion recorded in 2009.
The company expects revenue growth of 10 per cent to Bt2.4 billion this year in a market valued at between Bt6 billion and Bt7 billion.
"If the government maintains its policy to discontinue the use of asbestos in Thailand, we may shut down our roofingtile plant and diversify to produce other homeconstruction materials," Uran said.
